TORONTO — If you have ever wondered what it sounds like to hear a pin drop, consider the 11th inning at Rogers Centre at six minutes past midnight on Sunday, as a drive off the bat off Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Will Smith soared over the diamond and descended into the bullpen of the Toronto Blue Jays. The sound upon its landing — thunk — resounded through a ballpark in front of a ballclub already stunned once by a late-night Dodgers rally. From this one, the Blue Jays could not recover.

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In the decisive moment of the Dodgers’ 5-4 victory in Game 7 of the World Series, the baseball splashed off the grass inside the bullpen and into the stands. Smith spread his arms wide and rounded the bases. After a season spent wondering if the Dodgers might ruin baseball, the team has become the first back-to-back champion since the New York Yankees in 1998 to 2000.

At one point trailing by three runs, at another point two outs away from defeat and in the end out of pitchers, the Dodgers could not be denied. Yoshinobu Yamamoto secured the final eight outs of the game after starting Game 6 the night before. Mookie Betts finished off the game-ending double play. Smith and infielder Miguel Rojas supplied the late-night home runs that put the Dodgers in position to win.

As happened so often in this series, the final moments were harrowing. And the heartbreak for Toronto may be profound. With one out in the top of the ninth, Toronto closer Jeff Hoffman hung a slider. Rojas smacked the ball over the left-field fence. The flight of the baseball acted as a mute button for Rogers Centre, a building teeming with anticipation only moments before.